Los Angeles County's population edges closer to 10 million

Edging closer to 10 million, Los Angeles County's population grew slightly in the past year, even as tens of thousands more people left the county than moved into it, according to state estimates released Thursday.

The birthrate made up for those moving away.

The numbers from the state Department of Finance show a negative "domestic migration" figure of 55,286 between July 1, 2011, and July 1, 2012.

That's the difference between the number of people moving into L.A. County from within the United States and the number leaving for elsewhere in the country.

At the same time, more than 31,000 people moved to Los Angeles County from out of the country, making up nearly a third of the immigration into California.

That's unsurprising, since Los Angeles is a common first step for people new to the United States.

"California's a gateway state, and especially L.A. County is a gateway county," said Bill Schooling, a state demographer.

Because 74,000 more people were born than died in the county, the population went up by 50,829, or just more than half of 1 percent.

That's nearly the same as the 0.68 percent increase in population in California.

The 2012 estimates show L.A. County's population at 9,911,665, more than a quarter of the state's 37.8 million people.

At the rate it grew last year, L.A. County will get its 10 millionth resident in 2014.

The numbers are used to calculate taxes and set spending levels.

Birth and death figures come from the California Department of Public Health. Schooling said the migration estimates are based on Medicare enrollments, federal tax returns, new driver's license applications, changes of address and school enrollment.

L.A. County was in the middle of the pack in growth among the state's 58 counties. Placer County grew the most, at 1.21 percent, while Lassen County, which sits on the Nevada border, lost nearly 3 percent of its population.

Schooling said the figures suggest smaller counties away from the coasts haven't recovered from the housing crisis.

"The coastal regions and Riverside (County) have more economic growth going on right now," he said.

L.A. County grew slightly faster this year than the year before, a slow but steady rate that seems to show a gradual economic recovery.

"I do think that more recently we're seeing some signs that it's starting to pick up a bit," Schooling said. "I don't think it's booming at this point, but picking up."

The shifts continue trends dating to the 1990s, said Eugene Turner, a Cal State Northridge professor who studies population.

White Southern Californians have been moving elsewhere, but the influx of Hispanic immigrants and the birthrate among Hispanics already here make up for the lost numbers.

Cuts in aerospace, the military and manufacturing have taken many middle-class jobs out of California in recent decades. And some companies leave the state because of its business regulations and high taxes, Turner said.

"California's just not the attraction it once was within the United States," he said.